The medical uses of mobile phones show they can be good for your health

Mobile technology has the potential to support Governments in their attempts to drive efficiency in healthcare costs (1) and improve overall levels of service.

The Role of Mobile Phones in Increasing Accessibility and Efficiency in Healthcare contains new research by Imperial College's Tanaka Business School in association with NHS Direct, the University of Dundee and the Office of Health Economics Consulting.

This report is the first time that mobile's contribution to healthcare has been systematically reviewed. It demonstrates benefits to patients through text message (SMS) self-care programmes and highlights efficiency gains in healthcare delivery. Key findings include:

* Potential savings of between £240-370 million a year to the NHS in England alone by the introduction of SMS appointment reminders to patients (2)

* Improvement in glucose levels of 10% for young people with diabetes who manage their condition using a SMS support system. This level of improvement can potentially reduce diabetes related complications such as blindness by 76% and kidney disease by 50%

* Potential cost savings of up to £1.9 million per 1000 patients if a SMS support system is introduced into treatment programmes for tuberculosis (TB) patients. The SMS support system also leads to a reduction in deaths

* Calls to NHS Direct by mobile are increasing four times faster than calls made through landlines, especially by people who were previously low users of NHS services

Alan Harper, Director of Vodafone Group Strategy, said: "Mobile epitomises the essential requirements for the transfer of health information: privacy, confidentiality, timeliness and direct personal communication. We recognise that mobile is not the panacea for all challenges in the healthcare sector but, with penetration rates of over 90% for 15 to 44 year olds in the UK, it does have an important role to play in helping transform service provision."

Dr Rifat Atun, Director of the Centre for Health Management at Tanaka Business School, said: "This report has many examples of how mobile can increase efficiency, improve patients' ability to monitor and self-manage chronic conditions, and promote better adherence to drug treatment. All of this is delivered using basic mobile applications, voice and SMS, and achieved at minimal additional cost. Healthcare policy makers and commissioners must introduce mobile systematically within healthcare if we are to take full advantage of its potential."

Dr Mike Sadler, Medical Director of NHS Direct, concluded:"NHS Direct has revolutionised patient access to the NHS. Mobile is playing an important part in this. We know that the use of mobile in healthcare is acceptable to the public, and the benefits are available now. However, it is under-utilised at present. This report brings together a number of different studies and shows how mobile offers genuine opportunities to address the challenges of healthcare in the 21st century."

The Role of Mobile Phones in Increasing Accessibility and Efficiency in Healthcare - full report (PDF 1.24MB)